Vinland

[Rackham's Vanity]

The legendary site of the Viking colony in Newfoundland founded circa 985. Crisp northern wind blowing over loganberry, wild roses, prairie crocus, iris versicolor Linné, mountain avens, yellow birch bark, mayflower and maple leaf.

Vinland was wonderful...green at first, and then the loganberries came charging forward. They were wonderful in this blend, smelling dark and ripe, almost like black currants. I also caught a whiff of hops in Vinland, although that could just be wishful thinking on my part....

And then the unthinkable happened...big red itchy welts on my neck.

Breaks my heart...I really was enjoying this one.

[Miyabi]

In bottle: Oooh, interesting. Smells lemony and sweet.

 

Wet on skin: Eugh. This smells like...like lemon drops on me. Sugary lemon gumdrops or somesuch.

 

Drydown: Nope. The lemon's faded in the background, and now it's some sort of fruity candy on my skin.

 

I wanted to like this. I really did. I read the description and went, "awesome!" and alas, I think Vinland, along with Medea and Eve, are probably off to swaps. Darn.

[niter]

Bottle

 

Sweet and delicate plants. There is a concerning note that smells "sweaty." Odd.

 

Wet

 

Oh my. This smells to natural. I smell lovely flowers and trees and then some animal scent like I have been doing heavy labor. The whole mix is so light that it is playing with me...almost like it is lovely and I stink.

 

Dry

 

I did not make it this far....It was not a bad smell, perse, because I like that country type of odor. However, it really smelt like I had been hanging out with ruminants all day and needed a shower. It is a very nature type scent and it smells very earthy (snicker) on me.

[Miss Lynx]

This is a strange one. I had to try it, partly due to it being the only overtly Canadian BPAL scent, even though it had several florals in it. And thankfully, it didn't come across as being all that heavily floral on me.

 

However, I'm having a really hard time figuring out how to describe it! Like Nephilim and a few others, it's a crazy combination of contradictory scents that pull it in all kinds of different directions. In the imp, my partner said it smelled like icewine (très Canadien, that), which seemed like a pretty close description. Very fruity, and a bit heady. Once on, all kinds of different notes seemed to be jumping all over each other vying for attention at once, including several florals

 

All that soon settled down and a sharp, very green, herbal scent rose up, with maybe just a touch of floral in it, that smelled maddeningly familiar to me. Not unpleasant, but not like a scent you'd wear on purpose either, unless it was to -- that was it! It smelled like insect repellent! Something between Deep Woods Off and one of those citronella-based herbal repellents. In a scent based on a Canadian location, that struck me as just too amusing for words.

 

After a little while, the insect repellent scent died down, and the berries began coming out strongly. Quite nice, at that point. I am coming to realize that berries are my friend, scent-wise. But before too long they faded too, eventually replaced by a mild but vaguely nice herbal scent with just faint overtones of both berries and wildflowers. Not bad.

 

All in all, I'm not really sure if it’s a keeper, but it’s definitely an adventure in a bottle!

 

Grade: C+/B-

[LyndaM]

Vinland morphed over and over again on my skin; when I finally thought it MUST remain static, it still had notes hidden up its' sleeve. This is the most complicated and multi-dimensional BPAL I have tried so far. I got cinnamon and other spices, light woods, unidentifiable florals*, dark fruit, you name it. Luckily I liked every stage of the scent, and sniffing my wrist became a game: what note will I pick up this time?

 

I do intend to wear Vinland as an occasional perfume in the autumn; but I want a bottle for use as room scent. I put a few drops in with soy wax in my new oil burner, and my entire house smelled delicious and fresh within half an hour. Unique and very pleasant.

 

*I had no idea it was rose until I read the description

Edited September 25, 2005 by LyndaM

[AlaskaSnows]

In the Bottle: Mmmm tangy berries and wildflowers!

 

Dry: Spicy tangy berries, and... and some root vegetables. This reminds me of the Rosemary in Catherine too. This is a VERY airy outdoors scent, this smells a lot like picking berries in the Alaska woods. It has a very cold note. I don't know if I want to smell like this but it's one hell of an execution of the description.

[BlackWingedRoses]

In the bottle I get this fresh dirt smell. It smells cold like ice covered trees.

 

On my skin I still get that cool smell that makes me inhale deeply like I am breathing some of the freshest air ever.

There is something manly and outdoorsy about this. It smells green but there is a nice citrus note in there too that comes out.

 

during drydown the berry comes through, but not plump sunbathed berries. These are ones caught in a frost.

 

Overall a very refreshing invigorating scent.

[erikasilverstein]

Vinland is all woodsy florals on me.

 

More than average throw and staying power. I have Rosalind on one wrist, Vinland on the other, and Vinland is winning by leaps and bounds in those catagories!

 

There's something about the scent that reminds me stongly of scented Dial soap, however. I think invigorating is a good word. Not sure it's me, but I am glad to have tried the scent.

[herongale]

preconceived notion: This imp was ordered directly from the lab several months ago, purely on the strength of the description... who wouldn't want to smell like Canada? Especially a part of Canada within hailing distance of my precious P.E.I.? This blend seems to be full of very specific northern flora, and although I can only guess at what some of these things are, it sounds like a really gorgeous scent. And I do love the smell of bark and maple leaves.

 

in the imp: The oil is clear and colorless, like ionized water. The scent is sharp, and not at all what I expected... it's a sweet and somehow smoky spearmint. It's really too sweet, to the point of being disturbingly cloying. I get a hint of that same preserved-cadaver scent that turned me off of Lush's Figs and Leaves soap (which honestly makes me think that the leaves are the culprit), and there is also something in here that reminds me of cinnamon.

 

Ah... cinnamon. My nemesis. You make me wary.

 

wet: wow... what an interesting change. Almost immediately I get a scent of something rugged and smoky, with the mint flattening out into a less sweet and less cloying version of the same. Perhaps this is the loganberry.... I cannot imagine wild roses smelling this way. Cactuses that are split open might smell like this, and it is weird that I find something of the desert in a scent that is intended to evoke the far north. It might not be that weird, though... the overall impression is of ice-cold rain pounding on a spring glade near the sea. That is a kind of harshness that the desert knows pretty well, of elements that threaten to flatten out life.

 

drydown: this scent is so complex! The sweetness returns in the form of light florals, and the smokiness deepens into something with the flavour of smoked salmon served cold with capers. I think the mintiness in the beginning might have been there to evoke wind... now that the wind (and rain) have died down, what is left is a bountiful landscape for hungry trappers, with the promise of a rewarding meal and rest in a rough log cabin. This is totally a Little House in the Big Woods scent, and it makes me think of frontiers and settlers and everything that is still so shockingly wild and remote about most of North America.

 

Verdict: This is really one blend I can appreciate for its complexity and even beauty without being particularly drawn to it. No more for me, and I think this imp is going off to Toffee, who lives about as far away from Vinland as the Afghanis do.

 

post-conceived notion: I'm so glad I tried this, even though it is not for me. This is a scent worthy of Avonlea (which is, of course, what I secretly wanted it to be).

[Freyja Lux]

Very crisp, rosey, and the other notes I can't detect quite yet! VERY floral and not my taste, although folks who like rose scents would enjoy this. It's almost woodsy, herbal. It kind of hurts my nose actually.

[lohengrin]

I'm at a complete loss for how to describe how Vinland smells on me. Mostly it smells of rose, but it's a strangely subdued rose, which makes me think there's something else to it, under the surface. What that something else is, I have no idea.

 

Damn roses.

[Chantarelle]

This starts out with a nice mild berry scent, not too sweet, and a woodsy undertone. And then the floral kicks in, although it's not particularly strong. Overall, I'm fairly meh about it, although I don't dislike it.

[SeaMonkey]

mmm, maple and loganberries.

 

This is light and crisp. I wouldn't have normally chosen this one, but a lot of times when I swap, I'll just tell people to surprise me. This was one of those. I put off trying this one because it just didn't sound like something I'd like. But there's just enough woods to balance out the florals and the loganberry sweetens it

[Fefferbella]

Vinland smells like sweet leafy trees and dirt! There is a subtle hint of berry underneath, but the leafy notes are overpowering.

 

This is a really excellent scent. Must get the boy to try this one, I think it would smell heavenly on him. Sweet, woodsy scents are great with his skin chemisty.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): This smells fresh and breezy to me.

 

Just On: I smell fresh plants, not the dirt with them, but not plants that have been cut or pulled, and a bit of a breeze. It's not really floral either, just plants.

 

An hour or two later: Okay, plants, and some flowers.

 

Around 6 hours: Flowery plants with a dribble of sweetness.

 

12 hours: It went bye-bye.

 

Overall: I rather like this one as well, though it's still not in my 'regular' foody category of favorites. It is another amazing scent though, as Beth has captured the smell of flowers in the wind (at least to my nose).

 

After reading other reviews: Wow, I didn't really get a lot of berry sweet out of this the way others have mentioned.

[Scarlettfish]

At first, this smelt like a mixture of potpourri and medicine on me. However, as it dried down I smelt plants and dirt and flowers and just the smell of outdoors, which was nice. The longer I have it on, the more berry I get out of this. I didn't think I'd like this one at first, but I think I might just be falling in love with it.

[Meg]

In the bottle: trees, yellow flowers and berries. I'm slightly worried about the berries, as I have a bad BPAL berry track record.

 

Wet: a very sharp sap scent, slightly citrusy as well as woody. It smells of wind on green berries and irises.

 

Drydown: Loganberry. Hurray, this berry smells good on me! It's wild, tart and very juicy. The lemony scent still hangs around, but it's softened a lot by the very delicate scent of iris. There's a distinctive birch smell to it, which I think is what I'm picking up as woody lemon. As this develops I sometimes smell the wild rose, and the loganberry comes to the forefront, but it's not particularly sweet.

 

Overall: A pioneer, energetic scent. Birch forests are known to be the first to colonise barren land, and the Vikings landed in Newfoundland searching for more places to colonise. I can quite imagine them smelling this when they arrived, and thinking "this is a wild, slightly hostile, but beautiful place". It's always sharp, no matter how pretty it is, and for once it doesn't become sweet on me - it just smells of the outdoors, and changes as if different winds carry different scents to me.

[Sheila]

This one is very complex!

 

Sweet berries, light woods, some herbs, breeze (but not ozone), a citrus, and--florals. Unfortunately, the florals are very prominent on me (and I suspect jasmine, though it's not listed as a note). I wish it were more of an equal blend on me, because all the other notes are lovely and unusual.

[ancilla_morte]

A very young smelling pale yellow scent.

Smells like sunlight through pale yellow leaves on a cold early spring day. I can smell linden and trees and fields and pasture. all untouched with no people around.

Something brand new yet very old, like a baby tree sprouting in an ancient grove.

keeping the imp, but no 5ml.

[allidavie]

This went so wrong on me that I think I either received a bad imp or it is just the worst possible bpal/body chemistry matchup I've come across. Smelled like it was going to be a too sweet for me berry sort of thing in the imp, but when I put it on it turned into pure, burnt band-aid. Bizarre. I don't actually know what a burnt band-aid smells like, but it's gotta be just about how this one smelled on me. Very very strange. Guess I'm no viking.

[harmonyfb]

In the bottle: Cleaning fluid. Ew.

Wet: CLEANING FLUID. Seriously, this smelled horrid on me.

Dry: Cleaning fluid mixed with old-lady floral smell...wait, is that jasmine? There isn't jasmine in this! Is there? Man, it sure smells like it. And just like every other time, it overwhelms everything else. Bleah.

 

I was really looking forward to trying this scent, because it just sounded fantastic...I'm so bummed.

[Voleuse]

On first application, this is sharp and wild and sweet. A crisp breeze, a forest afar, and a field of wildflowers. Beautiful!

 

After a few minutes, however, this fades to faintly sweet wood, with leaves moldering underfoot. And then it's gone. Sigh.

[Mountaingrrl00]

All I get is the birch smell - a kind of wintergreen-ish, rootbeer-ish smell without the sweetness. I can see how this would evoke winter and mountain air for some folks. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. The note is too high and piercing for me, and at least with my chemistry, it overwhelms any complexity that might be lurking under it.

[WidgetAlley]

My lovely mummy let me test this one. I'm familiar with a grand total of one of the notes-- the rose-- so this will probably be a very confused review, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

 

In the Imp: Hmmm... this is quite odd. It's pleasant, and crisp, and fizzy, and sweet, but there's an end note that's almost dry and papery... I can smell rose, and something fruity that can only be the loganberry, and an almost rootbeerish note that reminds me of the birch soda I used to drink all the time (so it must be birch, of course!) It's very clear and cool and really does smell almost carbonated. I like it so far, but it's not quite what I was expecting.

 

Wet: Florals! A quiet, understated rose and something else, presumably the crocus and iris, underscored by the bubbly birch. This is clean, but complex. There's something faintly sweet and tart in the background, but so far the loganberry is far from a main player on my skin. I have no idea what mayflower, avens or maple leaf smell like, but I'm sure they're in there somewhere. It's starting to warm up a little, but still maintains an overall impression of cold, like sunlight on winter flowers. The rose is going a little soapy on me, but it's not horrible, and the loganberry has acquired a distinctly alcoholic note (it seems most of the BPAL plums and berries do this on me), but it doesn't seem out of place.

 

Dry: Roses, tart berry wine, unidentifiable spring florals, and birch. This is very pleasant, but somewhat unremarkable on me, and doesn't transport me instantly to a place and time like most of the other Wanderlust scents. I suspect it's the rose's fault, turning all cleanly when it ought to be lush. It's mostly a floral, but, I should add, a distinguished one: it doesn't smell generic in the least. It's almost like if you took a nice rose and crossbred it with something sunny and woodsy.... the bastard child of Mata Hari and Embalming Fluid (with a drop of Wanda, Florence, for the berries), if you can believe it. Pretty and springy but ultimately not really my thing.

[k8tey]

In the imp: Minty Band-aids!

 

Wet: Spearmint and rubber. Reminds me of the dentist. I am scared.

 

10 minutes: Spearmint and dried leaves. Interesting, and less scary.

 

Dry: Roses and autumn leaves. Chilly and pretty.

 

The rubber/bandaid smell may be a hormonal thing, I will try this again and see if I get the same awkward early stage. Even with the beginning weirdness, the drydown is really interesting and cooling. I look forward to using this when it is 100 degrees and humid!

 

Edit: I tried this again today, and I got wood instead of bandaids. I think it was an aging issue, not a chemistry issue, but I'm not certain...

 

I really like it and am considering a bottle.

Edited February 21, 2006 by k8tey